October 9, 2011

“Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.” (1 Pet. 5:7) what a perfect rest do we get when on coming to the Lord Jesus we take His yoke upon us, the yoke which He Himself ever wore, and which He now lovingly imposes upon all His people. O, it is an easy yoke and a light burden. Love joyfully accepts what infinite love imposes. We then are satisfied in knowing that every interest of ours is unspeakably precious to Him: that every hair is counted: every tear is put into His bottle, and that every sigh is noted. Nothing can harm those whom He keeps as the apple of His eye. Our one and only danger is that we begin to plan for ourselves and thus virtually take ourselves out of His hands. He will bring us at whatever cost of suffering to us, to commit ourselves absolutely to His loving and perfectly trusted hands.

Chris Brauns has some great insight on how Christians should respond to the Casey Anthony verdict. Below are a couple of highlights, but you can read the rest here

Point people to the Cross. Situations like this are the opportunity for Christians to point to a balanced view of forgiveness that stresses love, justice, and grace. Casey Anthony is not the only one who will stand before her Creator. We are all sinners, and we will all be there. If we don’t know Christ, then the wrath of God abides on us (John 3:36).

Examine yourself. If you find yourself feeling terribly ungracious towards Casey Anthony, then perhaps it is because you haven’t been thinking enough about God’s grace in your life. Indeed, this is what happened with the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:21-35. Do you get more energized about the sin or perceived sin of someone else or your own? Consider 2 Corinthians 13:5.

With some parenting books, it is hard to read them cover to cover. Often times when reading a parenting book I’ll go to the table of contents and flip to the section that covers the age range of my child. “Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids With The Love of Jesus” by Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson is different, you will not only read it cover to cover, but also find yourself reading it again and again. This book will help you to see that your child’s biggest problem isn’t their sinful action, but their sinful hearts. When reading this book you will see that your parenting can never be good enough, but only God’s grace can make your parenting sufficient to transform your child.

This book is written without being divided into practical application for the age range of children. The reason for this is because when dealing with toddlers, teenagers and even adults there is no difference with the root of issues that come up. Kids, just like adults, don’t need more rules to make them good and bring them closer to God. “Give Them Grace” does not ignore the need for rules, training and discipline but it gives the crucial reminder that all of that is meant to lead to kids to Jesus. “We are commanded to give them the law so that they will be crushed by it and see their need for a Savior. The law won’t make them good. It will make them despair of ever being good enough and in that way it will make them open to the love, sacrifice and welcome of their Savior, Jesus Christ.”

It isn’t just kids who need Jesus, but also parents. The task of parenting is impossible without God’s grace. Our best effort at parenting might produce “good kids” but it won’t change their hearts. “Raising good kids is utterly impossible unless they are drawn by the Holy Spirit to put their faith in the goodness of another. You cannot raise good kids, because you’re not a good parent. There is only one good Parent, and he had one good Son. Together, this Father and Son accomplished everything that needed to be done to rescue us and our children from certain destruction.” One of the things I appreciated about this book is the humility of the authors. They don’t claim to have it down or be good parents. They are in the same boat as all of us and write with humility as they proclaim their own need for grace.

I wish Crossway would allow me to give out one free chapter of this book for you to read because by just reading one chapter I know you’d be convinced to buy the whole book. Even if Crossway would allow me to give away one free chapter to convince readers to buy the book, it would be hard for me to pick just one that I think people should read because they are all so good. If you want to apply the gospel to parenting and have your parenting be saturated in the gospel then I could not encourage you enough to buy this book.

A quick note to the men: this is the first Elyse Fitzpatrick book I have ever read. My wife has read me selections of “Because He Loves Me” and I thought that book sounds good, but the cover is to feminine for me, maybe I’ll read it when an edition comes out with a camouflage cover. Next my wife shared portions of “Comforts From The Cross,” the cover was less girly, but I feared losing man points because this wasn’t “Strength From The Cross.” Please don’t make the mistake that Elyse Fitzpatrick only writes for a female audience. This book isn’t just for mom’s, but also for dad’s.

For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God…For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.
(Deuteronomy 4:24 & 31 ESV)

The fire of Yahweh as a jealous God is the fire of an exclusive commitment to this people that demands an exclusive commitment in return. It is, in short, the fire of redeeming love that had brought them out of the fires of bondage and would therefore tolerate no rival…It was the fire of God’s jealousy that protected the strength of God’s mercy and covenant faithfulness to this people. In rebellion and idolatry they would find the God of verse 24. In return and obedience they would find the God of verse 31. This is the same unchanged God, responding to a tragically unchangeable people.

March 7, 2010

The underlying foundation of the Christian faith is the undeserved, limitless miracle of the love of God that was exhibited on the Cross of Calvary; a love that is not earned and can never be. – Oswald Chambers

March 3, 2010

Jesus has some extraordinarily peculiar sheep: some that are unkempt and dirty, some that are awkward or pushy, and some that have gone astray! But it is impossible to exhaust God’s love, and it is impossible to exhaust my love if it flows from the Spirit of God within me. The love of God pays no attention to my prejudices caused by my natural individuality. If I love my Lord, I have no business being guided by natural emotions— I have to feed His sheep. We will not be delivered or released from His commission to us. Beware of counterfeiting the love of God by following your own natural human emotions, sympathies, or understandings. That will only serve to revile and abuse the true love of God. – Oswald Chambers

February 22, 2010

“Chosen – that we should be holy; not because he foresaw they would be holy, but because he determined to make them so. All who are chosen to happines as the end are chose to holiness as the means. Their sanctification, as well as their salvation, is the result of the counsels of divine love.” – Matthew Henry

On the cross we see sin fully punished and yet fully pardoned. We see justice with her gleaming sword triumphant, and mercy with her silver scepter regnant in sublimest splendor. Glory be to the wondrous wisdom which discovered the way of blending vengeance with love, making a tender heart to be the mirror of unflinching severity, causing the crystal vase of Jesus’ loving nature to be filled with the red wine of righteous wrath.

November 22, 2009

The ground of all our comfort and holiness, and perseverance in both, is laid in the shedding abroad of the love of God in our hearts; it is this which constrains us, 2 Cor. 5:14. Thus we are drawn and held by the bonds of love. Sense of God’s love to us will make us not ashamed, either of our hope in him or our sufferings for him.

October 30, 2009

Back in September I did a “Friday are For Fathers” post on Steve Monforto. Below is an excerpt on a sermon by Phil Ryken in which he talks about how Monforto’s love for his daughter is only a dim reflection of God’s love for us and how that should change us.

He places in to our hands all of these wonderful gifts. Gifts we would never be able to catch for ourselves. We so often throw them away. Sometimes not even realizing what we are doing, yet he is not irritated. Yes, he wraps us up again in his love. We experience that love again and with the reception of that love we have the calling to love others with that same kind of love. To love even the people who have squandered the gifts we have given to them, to love them and love them again even as Jesus does. – Phil Ryken

Ultimately it is God’s love that inspires and shows us how to love our families and others.